Most electronic equipment uses a plurality of board-to-board connectors to interconnect circuitry plurality of daughter boards to a mother board or back plane. The circuit boards may be mounted in a vertical or horizontal relationship depending upon the configuration of the mating connector members. The demand for connectors that solve problems such as noise, ground inductance, and cross talk has increased with the density and speed of the electronic circuitry. It is desirable, therefore, that high density electrical connectors include means to provide low inductance and a low resistance ground connection from the connector to the circuit board to which it is attached. It is further desirable that the ground connection be of a type that mates first and breaks last.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,631 discloses a grounding shield for a card edge connector. The ground shield is secured to the connector housing by a plurality of fingers that engage apertures along the mating face of the connector.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,655,518 and 4,869,677 disclose a two-piece connector assembly that provides grounding contacts within the dielectric walls of the pin header and includes a plurality of ground plates secured by a plurality of tabs to the exterior wall adjacent the mating face of the receptacle member.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/767,344 discloses an electrical connector assembly having a plurality of ground pins in a pin header and ground plates mounted along the exterior walls of the mating receptacle member.
When mounting plates along the exterior walls, particularly along the mating face, it is important that the ground plate lie against the dielectric housing material along the full length to assure proper mating of the connectors without stubbing the contacts in the mating connectors. The problem of separation between the ground plate and housing wall is exacerbated if the dielectric member is at all bowed and tends to separate even slightly from the outer metal wall. It is desirable therefore to provide a means to secure these two layers approximate the mating face such that the overall dimension of the mating face of the connector is not increased. Furthermore, it is desirable that the means for securing be one that minimizes the need for extra parts, one that does not greatly increase the assembly steps and furthermore be one that is cost effective.